Progress report: Mermaid Shawl Part 3

Here's the next installment of the mermaid shawl:


And here's a detail image of the anemones:



I took more images but the morning sunlight reflected too much off some of the metallic threads and the photos looked blurred. So more details with the next installment.

The shawl is between a third and half done. As you can see it's wider in some parts than others which means it flows and drapes nicely.

I have so far included:

acetate floss in turquoise
metallic thread in peacock blue
hand dyed bamboo in shades of jade green
Rowan kidsilk in medici blue
handpainted kidsilk in shades of turquoise and blue
opalescent glitter thread
furry thread
hemp in blue and green
lurex in black and turquoise mix
silver white fuzzy novelty yarn
sequins (shells and spirals)
beads (various Magatama and Miyuki beads, seed beads, glass pearls)

The design choices I make are based on the story of the little mermaid by Andersen. I thought that she might be homesick and this shawl should be something that reminds her of the life she left behind. Hence, anemones, starfish, shells and sea snails, blues, greens, waves and nets.

Tough Luck

Unfortunately, my hard drive is totally dead. So I won't be able to get any data off it, which is rather annoying as I have no backup of my e-mail or bookmarks. The bookmarks have been collected for months and months so I'll have to try and remember the important ones. I've also lost my collection of online knitting patterns and the ones I downloaded. The worst bit is that this means I cannot paint until I've got a new hard drive which hopefully should arrive today... and then I'll have to re-install the operating system... the software... get the settings sorted out. Sigh. Never mind.

My yarn dying experiment with the beautiful bamboo yarn was a big success yesterday. I managed to get a variety of shades of mermaid (jade) green/blue and it's drying as we speak. Once it's dry I'll take some pictures. This time I didn't forget to take some 'before' pictures.

I am not sure what I'll make with it yet. Part of me is thinking of a mermaid shawl in freeform - combining knitting and crochet to make something that is organic and has a lot of texture and flow. On the other hand the green/blue would be lovely as a top...

Any suggestions?

Mermaid's Garden

Sorry, got a bit carried away with the pictures. I just felt it needed to be seen from all possible angles. :-) This is my favourite lariat yet. Oh, and just so you know, it's MINE. Going to wear this tonight too. Nope, I am not going to look like a Christmas tree, it's all going to be stylish and elegant. ;-)

Here's the whole lariat.

It includes: mostly sterling silver findings, although there are some (vintage) findings that are more silver coloured, but they worked so I didn't care. :-) You will also find a lovely vintage stamping of a seahorse, sea glass, lots and lots of glass beads (shells, nuggets, dimes, rounds, art glass, faceted and plain), lovely silvery grey fresh water pearls, palest green jade cubes, chalcedony chips, and sterling silver sequins, and various connectors, from wavy to twisted. The large leaf shape was made by yours truly, my very first attempt at hammering the life out of a piece of metal....



Here you can see the chain and beads in a bit more detail.



More detail with seahorse:

Same detail, different angle (look, I did warn you in the first sentence!). :-)

Finally, the sea glass and the seahorse's head in detail:


The sea glass when I'd wrapped it up with those lovely vintage beadcaps and the little leaf bezels, reminded me of flowers and leaves, hence the garden. The sea glass is in three different shades of turquoise blue, starting with palest icy blue to almost teal blue.